The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.
Read MoreForward to 2017
National
This election is brought to you by the letter C
While Covid is the big C this election, you can also put character, campaign strategy and culture on the list of things to consider. And then there’s the return of Caucus
Read MoreChurchill beat Hitler, but Attlee won the election: Election strategies in a post-crisis world
New Zealanders are due to elect a Government in September. Will it be the way the Covid-19 crisis was handled or the creation of a new normal that will determine who wins?
Read MoreTurning the NZ First Foundation fiasco back on National is hilarious and sad
For many online, the mysterious activities of the NZ First Foundation raise serious concerns and the National Party must answer them…
Read MoreThe numbers are in, let the politics begin
The official election results finally have been announced. They tell us what we thought they would - so now what will they mean?
Read MoreTime for true transparency (& I don't just mean tax)
The lack of transparency in this campaign is galling, but it's not just around tax and water. Under MMP we're voting for a coalition government and it's time politicians started acting like it
Read More"Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts ... "
National apparently doesn't think gang members with criminal records are properly human. Or, rather, they don't deserve to be given the same rights that full humans possess.
Read MoreHow the Jacinda Effect changes everything & nothing
What looked like a campaign set to be dominated by third parties now has suddenly been tilted back towards the big two. Jacinda Ardern's election to the Labour leadership makes many new things possible, but one key thing even more likely
Read MoreHave we had enough of austerity politics?
British voters have "had quite enough of austerity politics", says Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn. He should know. He came from nowhere to within a whisker of defeating the Conservatives preaching anti-austerity. Are voters thinking the same way in New Zealand? If so which party will benefit in the September election?
Read MoreIs National Stealing Labour’s Social Policy Clothing?
Or has Labour lost its clothes or forgotten how to put them on.
Read MoreLet me count the ways; three potential governments in 2017
Come September 24, there are really only three likely scenarios as to who could form a government, and odds-on Winston Peters will face two difficult choices
Read MoreIn which universe will Winston Peters become PM?
In a classic piece of misdirection, we're being urged to look away from the recent Labour-Greens MOU and towards a future with Winston Peters as PM. I did, and there really isn't much there.
Read MoreMy sole contribution to the great flag debate
Apparently, we have to vote twice to decide whether we prefer the current flag to something else. So why was one vote enough when we were voting on our electoral system?
Read MoreIt's punitive welfare that's pointless, not protest
Protest outside Nats' summer party a necessary act of defiance in face of welfare and housing reforms
Read MoreParty renewal: National's success, Labour's failing
If National can adapt to change, why can't Labour?
Read MoreNot another column about the Labour leadership
Time to stop talking about the Opposition and focus on what will really effect us over the next three years: what will the National government do to protect Kiwis from another looming recession?
Read MoreLabour and Greens voters are more alike than different
If voters can see the commonality between Labour and the Greens, why can't political analysts?
Read MoreA firm prediction about what will happen on September 21
Or, rather, some speculative ruminations on what will happen if Winston Peters holds the balance of power and won't commit to supporting either bloc in the House.
Read MoreDirty dairying inspires a common-sense approach from the politicians
Dealing to dirty dairying is an issue that the three major parties fundamentally agree on. Is a parliamentary accord on protecting our waterways next?
Read MoreA happy, happy poll for the big four
It's the kind of poll that says what they want it to say. But it's only one poll
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